This application generally relates to a video game and, more particularly, to a video game including effects for providing different first person experiences of the same video game world. The application also describes a storage medium storing software for such a video game.
Many of us have seen films containing remarkably realistic dinosaurs, aliens, animated toys and other fanciful creatures. Such animations are made possible by computer graphics. Using such techniques, a computer graphics artist can specify how each object should look and how it should change in appearance over time, and a computer then models the objects and displays them on a display such as a television or a computer screen. The computer takes care of performing the many tasks required to make sure that each part of the displayed image is colored and shaped just right based on the position and orientation of each object in a scene, the direction in which light seems to strike each object, the surface texture of each object, and other factors.
Because computer graphics generation is complex, computer-generated three-dimensional (3D) graphics just a few years ago were mostly limited to expensive specialized flight simulators, high-end graphics workstations and supercomputers. The public saw some of the images generated by these computer systems in movies and expensive television advertisements, but most couldn't actually interact with the computers doing the graphics generation. All this has changed with the availability of relatively inexpensive 3D graphics platforms such as, for example, the Nintendo GameCube® and various 3D graphics cards now available for personal computers. It is now possible to interact with exciting 3D animations and simulations on relatively inexpensive computer graphics systems in home or office.
This application describes an example video game that can be played on 3D graphics platforms. Although not limited in this respect, the example video game is a first person game in which the player plays the game as if he or she looking out of his or her own eyes. The video game involves a ghost that is capable of “possessing” various hosts such as game characters and game objects in order to accomplish game objectives. When the ghost possesses a host, the game view is shifted to that of the possessed host. That is, the player sees the game world through the eyes or viewpoint of the possessed host. In order to allow the player to feel more like the host that has been possessed, the example video game enables the player to experience the world based on characteristics of the possessed host. For example, visual effects such as filters may be used to convey the worldviews of the hosts that the ghost possesses. Thus, if the ghost possesses a dog, a visual effect may be used to convey a dog's red-green color blindness. In this case, the player of the first person game can view the scene more like a dog would view the scene. If the ghost possesses a mouse, another visual effect may be used convey a mouse's blurry vision. In this case, the player can view the scene more like a mouse would view the scene.
By way of example, the dog's red-green color blindness may be realized by combining the red and green color channels when the 3D graphics platform generates the game display. The mouse's blurry vision may be realized by using a blur to blur the scene viewed by the mouse. Generally speaking, the visual effects described herein can be implemented using a variety of techniques including, but not limited to, combining different color channels, blurring by depth, enhancing or reducing contrast, performing image warping, overlays, texturing, lighting, fog effects and the like.
The concepts described herein are not limited to vision effects. By way of example, certain audio effects may be used to convey to a player how a particular host might hear certain sounds. If the ghost possesses a dog, audio effects may be used to convey how a dog hears sounds developed during game play. Similarly, if the ghost possesses a mouse, other audio effects may be used to convey how a mouse hears sounds developed during game play. These audio effects may be used in combination with or separately from the above-described vision effects.
By way of further example, many game systems are arranged to provide tactile effects to players. These tactile effects can be provided by vibration devices mounted in the game controllers used by players. The concepts described herein can be applied to such tactile effects by conveying to a player how a particular host might sense certain forces applied thereto. For example, a mouse and a human would sense the same force differently and the game system can take these differences into account by generating tactile effects whose strength is based at least in part on the characteristics of the character or object to which the force is applied. These tactile effects may be used in combination with, or separately from, the above-described vision and audio effects.
These and other features and advantages will be better and more completely understood by referring to the following detailed description of example embodiments in conjunction with the drawings.